It also sounded almost certain that DeSean Jackson will miss the game against the Titans. Reid said Jackson has "quite a bit" of soreness in his shoulders and neck, and it would be a "real stretch" for him to play Sunday. Jackson could not remember the hit that injured him.

"That wasn't like amnesia. He remembered his touchdowns and the things that happened. He didn't necessarily remember the hit," Reid said. He said the hit that took Jackson and Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson out of the game was among the worst he has seen.

"This was like a Rocky movie with both guys knocked to the ground."

If Vick is out Sunday, that would buy him two more weeks to recover, because the Eagles have a bye after playing Tennessee. It will also give Kolb a chance to try to continue his strong showing. Reid praised Kolb for his steady attitude through his benching and rise back to a starting role, admitting that Kolb wasn't pleased with his demotion.

"I can't tell you he was real happy with me when I made that move. ... I wasn't like the most popular guy in his life at that particular time. But you would have never known that when he left my office," Reid said.

Kolb, interviewed Monday morning on SportsCenter, said it was "tough" when he was benched, especially because he wanted to wash away the bad feelings of his poor play week one. But he expressed faith in Reid's decision-making and in God.

"My whole deal is I just have trust that God puts me in a certain situation for certain reasons. Sometimes you've got to go down to come back up, and that's my mentality and I think you have to stay that way because if you let it get you down then you won't play well when it is your time," Kolb said. "Obviously my time came pretty quickly after going to the bench and I'm glad that I was ready and the team was ready."

Asked if he had done enough to earn his starting job back, Kolb side-stepped the question.

"I’m not getting into that. I think it's Mike and (my) duty to do our best to make the decision as hard as possible and keep trying to play as good as possible," Kolb said. "Wherever (Reid) goes, that's what we'll believe in."

Reid, already dealing with questions about who should play quarterback, worked to defuse any lingering questions about why Vick was allowed to arrive to Sunday's game later than most players. Reid said Vick would only have played in an emergency, and even then would only go in to hand off. Vick was in the locker room, not on the sidelines, because he was getting treatment, Reid said.

"He was there just to get treatment," he said. "I've done that with less popular players in people's eyes. ... That was an absolute emergency, emergency situation."

Reid's assessment of Vick's recovery was decidedly less optimistic than the quarterback's self evaluation last week. Vick told reporters not to count him out of the game against Atlanta.

In other injury news, Reid said defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley and left tackle Jason Peters probably couldn't play today if they had to, though he was optimistic about wide receiver Riley Cooper.

Reid had high praise for his team after a 31-17 beating of the Falcons, and in particular praised coordinators Marty Mornhinweg and Sean McDermott.

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Birds' Eye View is the Inquirer's blog covering all things Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL.